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The Axioms of Anekānta
substance), I am immutable, eternal and unchanging. I am many in respect of the ever
changing phases of my consciousness. The nature of the substance and modes entails the relationship of one and many, universal and particular, permanent and impermanent. The substance is one while the modes are many. The substance stands for the universal and the modes for the particular. The substance is eternal while the modes are changeable. The universal is two fold – the horizontal (tiryag) and the vertical (ūrdhva). The proposition 'I am one' refers to the horizontal universal which is the experience of unity (ekatva), pervasiveness (anyatva) and essence (dhruvatva). The proposition 'I am many' in respect of the successive functions of my consciousness represents the vertical universal. There is the experience of before and after in it. The horizontal universal is the essence pervading through the different contemporary states, which establishes their unity. The vertical universal consists in the successive changes that are similar, which establishes a unity running through the past, present and future. We find elaborate investigations into the nature of nonabsolutism and the doctrine of relativism in the Āgamic literature. The dictum – no word of the jin (omniscient) is independent of naya (a particular viewpoint) is the reputed principle of Āgamic exegesis. Each proposition of the Āgama
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